Kenneth Opskar
Amateur Radio Operator and DXpedition Co-Leader
Who is Kenneth Opskar?
Kenneth Opskar, known by his amateur radio call sign LA7GIA, is a Norwegian electrical power engineer and amateur radio DXpeditioner from Oslo. First licensed in 1992 while studying in Trondheim, he became active in DXing and Morse code (CW) operation, later organizing and leading numerous solo and team expeditions to rarely activated countries across Africa, including Malawi, the Comoros, Equatorial Guinea, the Central African Republic, the Republic of the Congo, and Somalia. During a DXpedition to Chad, he was briefly detained by authorities before being permitted to leave, an incident that later earned him the Intrepid-DX Group's Intrepid Spirit Award. In February 2023 Opskar served as a co-leader of the 3Y0J DXpedition, an ambitious and costly effort to land a team on Bouvet Island, widely described as the world's most remote island, and operate amateur radio from it for the international DX community. The team successfully landed by helicopter despite the island's notoriously severe weather and made tens of thousands of radio contacts before departing. Opskar continues to be active in amateur radio and DXpedition planning from his home in Oslo.
Sources: ARRL News, "DXpeditioner Kenneth Opskar, LA7GIA, is Recipient of Intrepid Spirit Award" · CWops, "Ken Opskar, LA7GIA" member biography · OnAllBands.com, "3Y0J Bouvet Island 2023 DXpedition is in the Books"